New Delhi, April 25 (Inditop) Sandeep Singh will lead a 18-man squad as India defend their Asia Cup hockey title in Kuantan, Malaysia, from May 9.
There were four changes to the side that won the Azlan Shah Cup earlier this month. Ignace Tirkey, Sarwanjit Singh, Bharat Chhikara and Shivendra Singh have been replaced by V.Raghunath, Vikram Pillay, Rajpal Singh and Hari Prasad. Shivendra, who has been recovering from a shoulder injury, has been put on the stand-by list.
India will attempt to lift the Asia Cup title for the third time after having won it in 2003 (Kuala Lumpur) and 2007 (Chennai).
The winner of the Asia Cup will get an automatic entry to the 2010 World Cup in New Delhi.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Baljit Singh, Adrian D’Souza
Full Backs: Sandeep Singh (captain), Dilip Tirkey, V.Raghunath
Midfielders: Gurbaj Singh, Sardar Singh, Ajitesh Roy, Vikram Pillay, Prabodh Tirkey, V.S.Vinaya
Forwards: Tushar Khandker, Rajpal Singh, Prabhjot Singh, S.V.Sunil, Arjun Halappa
Hari Prasad, Gurvinder Singh Chandi
Standbyes: P.R.Sreejesh, Sarwanjit Singh, Bharat Chhikara, Shivendra Singh
PooL A: South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and Sri Lanka
POOL B: India, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh
Fixture (India’s matches):
May 9: India vs. Bangladesh
May 10: India vs. Pakistan
May 12: India vs. China
May 14: semi-finals
May 16: Final
